The field of the invention is carriers for attachment to vehicles. The invention relates more specifically to motorcycle carriers affixed to the back or front of a camper, motor home, or other vehicle.
Numerous devices are used to carry a motorcycle on the front or back bumper of a camper, motor home, or other vehicle. Such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,754,672; 3,931,903; and 3,760,965. All of these devices, however, hold the motorcycle from underneath the wheels, and thus require either lifting or driving the motorcycle onto the rack, or elaborate hoisting mechanisms for lifting the rack once the motorcycle has been placed thereon.
There are numerous other devices used to carry boats on the top of vehicles; such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,730,334; 3,139,203; 3,885,689; 3,952,893; and 3,215,294. Other hoists useful on vehicles are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,608,759 and 3,804,263. The devices useful for carrying boats on the top of vehicles typically are not useful for motorcycles and the like because they would not permit the motorcycle to be held upwardly and instead would require it to be placed on its side. This would result in a substantial safety hazard resulting from the leakage of gasoline. All of the hoist devices set forth above are adapted to lift the object to be carried, and to place it downwardly onto a rack or into the trunk of a vehicle. None of the above-listed devices are designed to hold the vehicle by suspending the same during transit. The result is the devices must be elaborate, because they need not only have a hoisting device but also a carrying rack.